I have to prepare an annual report for work, meaning that I have to brag about myself and describe all the wonderful things I've done over the past year. Explain my productivity, so that the higher ups don't think I've wasted my time just thinking and being all academic all year long. I hate doing this kind of thing, because it involves bragging about myself and self-promotion, which I despise. I would much rather just get into the trenches and put my head down and work my ass off without having to come up for air and explain what it is that I've done. The only people who really need to worry about this kind of thing are the non-workers, and there are plenty of those. Rest assured, I am not one. The problem with this kind of exercise is that you can make yourself look on paper, like you've been very productive, even if you haven't.

I would like to sum it all up in a sentence or two...something along the lines of...Dr. C has acheived great success in research and publications, while at the same time being able to spend quality time with her family, had loads of fun, not gotten to the point that she is so stressd out that she had to take stress leave from said employment, oh, yes, had a baby, cared for her children, played lots of board games, had heaps of fun meeting bloggers and chatting back and forth with them. Gardened, partied, played and ate, mothered and spoused, and don't you worry, employer, she did a shitload of work to boot.

Back to the real thing...as tempting as that is.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 28, 2006 at 1:49 PM.
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Well, sounds to me that you *did* have a productive year. I hate doing performance summaries like that - I used to know a guy who was pretty bone idle. At review time he was asked how he felt he had done that year and always answered "I did a fantastic job this year". His rationale was that attack was the best form of defence. I could not lie so bald-faced.

I just finished doing exactly that: a report of what I've done in the last year. Where does one draw the line between bragging and being too modest? It was tough at and it resulted of an amount of over 160 pages :P

I was always taught that self praise was no recomendation. I think someone must have moved the goal posts when I wasn't looking though because it seems to me that the ones shouting the odds with the biggest mouths are the ones who get the breaks these days even if can't back up half of what they boast. I'm like you though, I just want to get on with it and show I can do it rather than say I can do it. Trouble is getting the initial break. I like you blog - is good.

About Me

I'm not a lumberjack or a fur trader.
I don't live in an igloo, eat blubber or own a dogsled.
I don't know Jimmy Suzie or Sally from Canada,
Although I'm certain they're very nice.
I have a prime minister, not a president,
I speak English and French, not American.
And I pronounce it 'about' not 'a-boot.'
I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack.
I believe in peacekeeping, not policing;
Diversity, not assimilation.
And that the beaver is a proud and noble animal.
A tuque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch.
And it's pronounced zed. OK? Not zee. Zed.
Canada is the second-largest land mass,
the first nation of women's hockey
and the best part of North America.
My name is Cathy and I am Canadian.